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Stanford  University.  Alumni 

Association. 

Addresses  delivered  before 
the  sixth  annual  meeting,.. 
May  24,  1898,  by  Jefferson 
Elmore,  Charles  J.C.  Bennett. 


1 


ROBERT  ERIIEST    COWAII 


ilj' 


Addresses    Delivered    before     the     Sixth 

Annual    Meeting   of  the  Alumni 

Association 


Of  the  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University 
May  24,  1898 


JEFFERSON   ELMORE,  '95 
CHARLES  J.   C.   BENNETT,  '96 


With  an  Account  of  the  Proceedings  of  Alumni  Day,  and  the 
Treasurer's  Report. 


Published  by  the  Alumni  Association 


Addresses     Delivered     before     the    Sixth 

Annual   Meeting  of  the   Alumni 

Association 


Of  the  Leland  Stanford  Junior   University 
May  24,   1898 


JEFFERSON  ELMORE,  '95 
CHARLES  J.  C.  BENNETT,  '96 


With  an  Account  of  the  Proceedings  of  Alumni  Day,  and  the 
Treasurer's  Report. 


0  ,  ,3  , , ,  '   ,  , 


Published  by  the  Alumm  Association 

1898. 


Press  of  C.  A.  Murdock  &  Co. 
San  Francisco. 


i-^oo  »-r)  (^-yf  j 


T 


SOME    INFLUENCES    OF    OUR    UNIVER- 
SITY,  AND    THEIR   RELATION 
TO    LIFE. 

I  wish  in  this  paper  to  call  attention  to  some  ways  in  which  it 
seems  to  me  that  our  university  influences  the  after-life  of  her 
alumni.  In  doing  so,  I  should  like  to  be  understood  as  speaking 
from  a  purely  personal  standpoint.  It  is  obvious,  in  the  case  of  an 
institution  whose  pride  it  is  to  minister  to  the  special  needs  of  the 
individual,  that  every  one  is  not  affected  by  it  in  precisely  the 
same  way  ;  so  that  my  interpretation  of  the  forces  that  were 
brought  to  bear  upon  us,  and  of  their  relation  to  life,  may  not  be 
yours. 

Doubtless  there  are  general  tendencies  which  act  upon  every 
one  that  comes  within  the  confines  of  these  walls,  and  which,  in 
^     spite   of  individual  differences,  tend  to  produce  certain  definite 
""l^    types  of  character.     Still,  I  question  very  much  if  the  time  has 
0=     yet  come  to  characterize  these  tendencies  in  general  terms.     A 
g^     modern  university,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  is  an  exceedingly  com- 
—^     plex  institution.     It  brings  into  play  forces  that  are  not  only  hard 
:«      to  measure,  but  that  act  and  react  upon  one  another  in  a  most 
g      complicated  manner.     Moreover,  in  our  own  university,  we  have 
to  deal  with  special  considerations.     One  of  these*  is  the  circum- 
stances under  which  the  teaching  body  performs  its  functions. 
Not  only  is  this  body  made  up  of  men  whose  associations,  whose 
training,  and  whose  views  of  life  are  most  diverse,  but  it  also  acts  in 
an  atmosphere  of  the  greatest  freedom.     With  this  diversity  of 
character,  and  with  liberty  for  each  one  to  teach  what  seems  to 
him  the  truth,   these  trained  scholars  bring  to  bear  the  powerful 
influence  of  their  personalities  on  the  young  men  and  women  that 
look  to  them  for  inspiration  and  guidance.    It  must  also  be  taken 
into  account  that  our  university  has  existed  but  a  short  time.     It 
would  be  too  much  to  expect,  in  this  early  period  of  adjustment, 


SIS' 


.370623 


lliat  the  forces  which  are  at  work  here,  and  which  each  one  of  us 
has  felt  so  stroni^ly  in  his  own  Hfe,  should  have  their  general 
trend  clearly  defined.  Tliis  will  come  when  they  have  been 
longer  in  operation,  when  their  power  has  been  made  manifest  in 
a  still  greater  number  of  human  lives.  In  the  mean  time,  one  aid 
to  a  determination  of  the  common  message  the  university  has  had 
for  us  all,  will  be  the  record  of  what  she  has  been  to  her  indi- 
vidual sons  and  tlaughters.  To  make  a  personal  contribution  of 
this  kind,  in  which  you  will  no  doubt  find  much  for  disagreement, 
is  the  purpose  of  this  paper. 

If  one  should  ask  for  the  fundamental,  distinctive  influence 
of  the  university,  I  should  characterize  it  as  moral,  rather  than 
intellectual.  In  saying  this,  I  do  not  wish  to  speak  lightly  of 
the  intellectual  interests,  but,  important  as  they  are,  they  do 
not  appear  to  me  to  be  so  powerful  and  so  all-pervading  as  the 
tendency  toward  right  living.  Even  the  new-comer,  from  his 
very  first  day,  has  a  distinct  impression  of  this  influence  ;  he 
feels  an  impulse,  not  so  much  to  study  something  as  to  do  some- 
thing,—  something  that  shall  give  expression  to  the  highest  and 
best  part  of  his  nature.  Moreover,  this  deep  sense  of  one's 
relation  to  others,  is  as  old  as  the  university  itself  It  used  to 
be  said  in  the  early  days,  by  some  who  spoke  without  per- 
sonal knowledge,  that  we  had  no  atmosphere,  and  that  we 
should  have  one  only  after  the  laj^se  of  years.  And  yet,  at  that 
very  time,  the  atmosphere  was  here,  and  so  distinctive  that  it 
made  us  conspicuous  in  the  academic  world  then  as  it  does  now. 

Unmistakable  as  the  presence  of  this  influence  is,  it  may  seem 
difficult  to  define  so  intangible  a  thing.  And  yet,  in  my  opinion, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  essence  of  it  is  a  passion  for  humanity. 
It  comes  from  men  eager  to  serve  the  welfare  of  others  ;  it  stirs 
in  the  hearts  of  those  who  come  within  its  range  the  same 
deep  feeling,  and  so,  by  the  interaction  of  thjse  forces,  it  comes 
about  that  the  pre-eminent  influence  of  our  university  life  is  an 
interest  in  human  life  and  a  striving  to  make  it  more  noble  and 
more  fruitful. 

There  are  many  ways  in  which  this  love  for  humanity  makes 
its   presence  felt   in  the  little  world  of  student-life.     We  recall 


especially  how  it  manifests  itself  in  the  relations  that  exist 
between  students  themselves,  and  between  them  and  their 
teachers.  Indeed,  these  relations  are  so  well  known,  and  in  a 
way  so  famous,  that  I  need  not  dwell  upon  them.  The  sympathy 
and  the  kindly  consideration  from  one  to  another  have  already  in 
the  past  warmed  many  hearts;  and  the  affectionate  interest  which 
the  one  who  teaches  takes  in  the  welfare  of  his  pupil  has  borne 
fruit  in  many  lives. 

Another  indication  of  this  same  influence  is  the  well-marked 
feeling    that    everybody  ought  to  do   something    in    the    world. 
Education  ought  to  lead  to  action,  and  not  merely  to  contempla- 
tion.    In  fact,  the  man  is  looked  upon  as  a  practical  failure,  who 
does  not  put  his  training  to  the  test  in  the  performance  of  some 
useful  work.      How  strong  this  feeling  really  is,  is  perhaps  best 
understood  by  the  graduate  who,  having  left  the  university  and 
been  engaged  in  active  life,  returns  for  additional  study.     He  may 
do  so  for  the   very  best  of  reasons,  but  the   old-time  cordiality 
gives  way  to  a  polite   indifference  warranted  to  chill  the   most 
sanguine  nature.      As  to  his  position  in  the  student-world,  he  is 
not  nearly  of  so  much  consequence  as  the  rawest  freshman.     A 
case  that  illustrates  and   confirms   what  I  am  saying   has  come 
under  my  notice.      A  graduate  of  the  university,  who  has  been 
called  to  a  responsible  position  in  a  foreign  country,    after  suc- 
cessfully pursuing   his  vocation  for  a  year  or  two,  decided,  for 
excellent  reasons,  to  make  a  change.     Seeing  a  few  months  of 
inactivity  ahead,  he  thought  it  would  be  pleasant  as  well  as  profi- 
table to  spend  the  time  in  his  old  haunts  at  the  university.     The 
upshot  was,  that  he  came,  endured  the  chill  for  a  couple  of  weeks, 
and  then  packed  his  trunk  and  fled  to  the  warmer  atmosphere  of 
Berkeley.     This  tendency  to  action,  and  the  consequent  interest 
among  students  in  the  practical  affairs  of  the  world,  is  hard  for 
people   from   the    outside  to  understand.     The    Mayor   of  San 
Francisco,  in  a  recent  address  to  the  Graduate  Club  on  the  pro- 
posed new  charter,  apologized  profusely  for  speaking  on  such  a 
subject  to  those  who  were  in  the  quiet  shades  of  academic  life. 
He   did   not  understand  the  close   relation   which    this  ideal  of 
action   establishes    between  this   secluded  life  of  study  and  the 


busy  world  outside.  Now,  whatever  else  may  enter  into  this 
glorification  of  doin^  some  useful  thing,  it  seems  to  me  to  arise 
mainly  from  the  feeling  that  the  improvement  of  humanity  is  one 
of  the  chief  ends  of  life,  and  that  he  makes  utter  shipwreck  and 
failure  who  lets  slip  the  opportunity  to  bear  his  part  in  this  noble 
service.  Now,  as  in  Judea  of  old,  we  must  be  about  our  Father's 
business. 

It  is  uniier  this  inthience  that  the  university  sends  its  graduates 
into  the  world.  How  much  such  a  view  of  life  means  both  for  the 
world  and  for  themselves,  it  would  not  be  possible  to  over- 
estimate. In  the  first  place,  it  has  put  the  graduate  into  posses- 
sion of  one  great  secret  of  life, — perhaps  the  greatest  one  of  all. 
It  makes  him  feel  that  the  way  of  life  is  not  through  the  seeking 
of  his  own  interests,  but  in  devotion  to  those  of  others.  He 
knows,  so  far  as  mere  personal  survival  in  the  fierce  struggle  for 
existence  is  concerned,  that  the  man  who  lives  for  self  sets  in 
motion  the  forces  of  his  own  destruction,  but  that  he  who  forgets 
himself  for  the  sake  of  his  brother  arrays  on  his  side  all  the  forces 
of  the  universe  that  make  for  life.  He  understands,  also,  as  so 
many  have  not,  the  profound  wisdom  of  the  great  Teacher,  when 
he  says  :  For  whosoever  will  save  his  life  shall  lose  it  ;  and 
whosoever  will  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it.  Animated  with 
such  a  spirit, — the  precious  gift  of  his  own  university, — our  col- 
lege man  finds  in  service  for  others,  not  only  personal  success,  and 
all  the  pleasant  things  that  go  with  it,  but  also  the  unfolding  of 
his  own  highest  life.  Then,  again,  let  us  think  for  a  moment  what 
the  presence  of  this  devotion  to  humanity  means  in  a  community. 
No  one  can  express  it  in  words  ;  nay  more,  one  who  has  not  seen 
it  can  hardly  believe  the  miracles  that  may  be  wrought  by 
unselfish  love, — the  coin  that  passes  current  among  all  kinds  and 
conditions  of  men,  women,  and  children.  It  is  through  the  work 
of  teaching  that  the  community  is  to  be  mainly  affected  by  this 
spirit.  In  this  field,  the  success  of  Stanford  men  and  women  has 
been  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  they  are  dominated  by  a  desire  to 
accomplish  something  toward  the  ultimate  perfection  of  the  race, 
— a  feeling  that  turns  the  work  of  the  teacher  from  mere  drud- 
gery into  an  absorbing  passion.     Nowhere  is  the  influence  of  the 


university  upon  its   graduates  more  strongly  felt,  and  nowhere 
is  that  influence  passed  on  with  greater  power. 

Another  great  influence  which  1;he  university  exerts  is  the 
religious  one.  In  spite  of  the  diversity  of  views  held  here  in 
matters  of  this  kind,  in  spite  of  the  bewilderment  that  sometimes 
falls  on  the  undergraduate,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  there  is  a 
definite  trend  in  a  certain  direction.  This  phase  of  the  university's 
significance  has,  perhaps,  been  more  talked  of  than  any  other, 
and  I  should  say  nothing  about  it,  were  it  not  for  its  absorbing 
interest.  In  what  I  do  say,  I  wish  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that 
many  students  experience  in  their  college  careers  no  vital  change 
in  their  religious  beliefs.  To  these,  and  doubdess  to  many  others, 
there  will  be  little  or  no  relevance  in  what  I  have  to  say. 

In  just  what  terms  this  religious  influence  is  to  be  formulated, 
if  it  can  be  formulated  at  all,  is,  6f  course,  a  matter  of  individual 
interpretation.  Speaking  for  myself,  I  have  no  doubt  that  it 
tends  to  a  very  important  modification  of  certain  beliefs  gene- 
rally considered  as  essential.  In  doing  so,  it  does  not  leave  one 
who  is  influenced  by  it  with  no  foundation  to  stand  upon. 
The  statement,  which  is  so  often  heard,  that  those  who  reject 
accepted  beliefs  are  at  sea  without  anchor,  is  made  without  regard 
to  the  facts.  Indeed,  a  perfectly  rational  and  satisfying  theory  of 
life  can  be  constructed  with  no  reference  to  mediaeval  dogmas. 
Such  a  theory,  I  venture  to  think,  is  involved  in  our  own  religious 
atmosphere.  Roughly  outlined,  the  main  features,  as  they  appear 
to  me,  are  God,  a  universe  of  law,  salvation  through  putting 
one's  self  in  right  relation  to  the  forces  that  make  for  life,  and  the 
uplifting  of  humanity  through  the  power  of  love  as  the  ultimate 
end  of  our  existence.  With  such  a  belief  men  can  live  and  die  ; 
with  it,  moreover,  they  can  transform  the  world 

Assuming,  then,  that  a  graduate  of  the  university,  through  his 
own  studies  in  an  atmosphere  such  as  we  have  here,  has  come 
into  some  such  philosophy  of  life,  he  is  brought  face  to  face  with 
the  delicate  question  of  his  relation  to  the  part  of  the  community 
that  retains  the  old  beliefs.  His  position  is  not  at  all  an  easy  one. 
For  the  church  is  an  exceedingly  important  institution.  Around 
it  center  traditions  of  long  standing,  tender  associations,  and  an 


8 

increasinjij  ainount  of  social  activity.  Then  again,  the  church  is 
sometimes  not  as  tolerant  as  it  might  be,  especially  when  it  feels 
that  essential  doctrines  arc  being  called  in  cjuestion.  What,  then, 
shall  be  the  attitude  of  the  college  man  toward  this  venerable  and 
powerful  organization,  coming,  as  he  does,  with  convictions  of 
his  own,  and  desiring  unselfishly  to  help  his  fellows  to  a  better 
life  ? 

Under  the  circumstances,  it  seems  to  me  that  two  courses  of 
action  are  open,  one  or  the  other  of  which  is  likely  to  be  followed. 
One  of  these,  with  no  disparaging  implication,  I  venture  to  call 
the  course  of  compromise.  The  one  who  holds  to  it  sees  in  the 
church  a  long-established  institution  which  has  been  and  is  a 
most  important  factor  in  our  civilization,  and  in  whose  activities  at 
present  the  best  men  and  women  of  every  community  are  engaged. 
He  also  assumes  that  in  respect  to  belief  the  church  is  in  a  stage 
of  transition,  and  that  the  time  will  come  when  it  will  divest  itself 
of  all  traces  of  mediaeval  dogma.  In  the  mean  time,  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  man  with  university  training  to  help  along  this  period  of 
transition.  His  own  convictions,  at  least  so  far  as  they  conflict 
with  the  convictions  of  others,  are  to  be  held  somewhat  in  abey- 
ance. If  he  interprets  their  articles  of  belief  in  one  way  and  his 
neighbor  in  another,  if  where  he  sees  "poetry"  the  other  sees 
"science,"  this  is  not  to  prevent  them  from  worshipping  and 
working  together.  In  the  fullness  of  time,  through  his  own  co- 
operation and  that  of  men  like  him,  and  through  other  forces  that 
always  make  for  progress,  the  church  is  to  be  transformed,  in 
which  great  movement  he  will  have  borne  an  honorable  part. 

The  other  course  that  is  open  to  the  university  man  with 
serious  views  of  life  is,  in  many  respects,  the  opposite  of  this 
one.  The  main  thing  about  it,  perhaps,  is  the  fact  that  he  is 
perfectly  honest  and  frank  in  the  expression  of  his  own  beliefs. 
He  does  not,  of  course,  go  about  in  a  spirit  of  propaganda,  seek- 
ing to  upset  the  cherished  convictions  of  others.  Neither  does 
he  conceal  or  with  specious  interpretation  dilute  what  he  himself 
really  believes,  but  on  all  proper  occasions,  with  tact  and  with 
the  utmost  tolerance  lor  the  opinions  of  others,  he  gives  brave 
and  manly  utterance  to  his  own  conception  of  the  truth.     From 


this  attitude,  there  results  a  certain  isolation  from  the  church. 
Whoever  assumes  it  must  find  other  sources  for  his  own  religious 
life,  and  through  other  instrumentalities  he  must  chiefly  accom- 
plish his  part  in  the  upbuilding  of  huAianity. 

Now  this  second  attitude  of  perfect  honesty  and  candor  is  the 
one,  in  my  opinion,  that  ought  to  be  assumed  toward  the  old 
beliefs.  If  it  involves,  in  our  work,  the  loss  of  the  organization 
of  the  church  with  its  countless  possibilities  of  influence,  it  at  least 
saves  the  integrity  of  the  individual  character.  No  one  has  the 
right  to  say  anything  that  tends  to  overthrow  established  beliefs, 
unless  his  own  convictions  are  grounded  on  the  most  careful 
study.  But  when  once  these  convictions  have  been  formed,  it  is 
the  highest  duty  of  every  honest  man  to  speak  out  what  he 
actually  believes.  Questions  of  mighty  import  stare  us  all  in  the 
face, — questions  of  our  relation  to  this  life  and  to  the  life  beyond. 
Whoever,  then,  has  an  answer  to  these  questions  different  from  the 
answer  of  tradition,  is  bound  not  only  for  others,  but  also  for  the 
sake  of  the  integrity  of  his  own  soul,  to  speak  out  his  message 
without  evasion  and  without  reservation.  It  is  this  loyalty  to  their 
conception  of  the  truth,  this  unwillingness  to  put  themselves  in  a 
false  position,  that  keeps  many  university  men  and  women  out  of 
the  church. 

And  it  may  be  after  all,  that,  for  the  church,  whose  useful- 
ness we  all  wish  to  see  preserved  and  increased,  it  is  just  as 
well,  for  the  present  at  least,  that  this  should  be  so.  Institutions, 
it  is  true,  develop  from  within  ;  it  is  also  true  that  they  are 
influenced  from  without.  In  the  case  of  the  church,  there  are  no 
doubt  forces  at  work  within,  which  in  the  course  of  time  will  bring 
about  many  changes  ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  there  are  serious 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  hastening  from  within  the  operation  of 
these  forces.  One  is  the  difficulty  which  an  earnest  and  honest 
holder  of  the  new  gospel  finds  in  identifying  himself  with  an 
organization  whose  fundamental  beliefs  he  cannot  accept. 
Assuming  that  such  a  man  is  in  the  church  by  some  kind  of 
moral  legerdemain,  what  shall  he  do  ?  He  is  confronted  with  a 
creed  for  the  propagation  of  which  the  church  mainly  exists,  and 
by  which  even  he  himself  is  more  or  less  vitally  bound.     For  this 


lO 

he  would  substitute  his  own  deeper  views;  but  if  he  should  say  a 
single  word  against  doctrines  considered  essential, — for  example, 
that  of  the  vicarious  atonement, — if  he  should  seek  to  place  an 
interpretation  upon  them  different  from  that  of  plain  Christian 
people,  he  would  be  guilty  almost  of  an  act  of  treachery.  His 
very  position  has  tied  his  hands.  And  so  under  the  present  con- 
ditions, the  influences  that  may  be  brought  to  bear  from  without 
for  the  transformation  of  the  church  are  quite  as  important  as  those 
from  within.  These  influences  from  without  will  make  themselves 
felt  especially  through  the  younger  generation.  To  them  is  to  be 
carried  with  hands  unhampered  the  message  of  the  new  truth, 
and  when  this  is  done,  the  object  which  we  all  desire  will  be  within 
reach.  In  this  work  it  is  fitting  that  the  graduates  of  our  uni- 
versity should  bear  a  conspicuous  part. 

1  wish  now  to  turn  for  a  moment  to  purely  intellectual  influences. 
Here  I  shall  be  content  with  a  few  words;  because,  highly  import- 
ant and  distinctive  as  these  influences  are,  I  think  there  is  much 
less  likelihood  of  those  who  have  been  subject  to  them  placing 
different  interpretations  upon  them. 

What  is  to  be  noted  is  the  fact  that  a  well-defined  intellectual 
atmosphere  is  not  especially  noticeable.  I  do  not  mean  by  this 
that  the  different  subjects  are  not  taught  in  the  best  way,  or  that 
those  who  are  taught  are  not  interested  in  intellectual  things. 
What  I  do  mean  is,  that  no  department  of  learning  has  become 
so  prominent  as  to  affect  the  whole  of  the  university  life  with  an 
impulse  toward  study  in  that  line.  It  may  be  that  there  is  a 
tendency  in  this  direction;  that  the  time  will  come  when  the 
influence,  say,  of  certain  departments  of  science  will  dominate 
and  permeate  our  whole  intellectual  spirit.  In  view  of  the  vast 
development  of  science  in  recent  years,  and  of  the  special  circum- 
stances that  foster  the  study  of  it  here,  it  would  not  be  surprising 
if  such  were  the  case;  but,  at  present,  I  think  it  may  safely 
be  said  that  this  state  of  things  has  not  yet  come  about.  In 
fact,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  conditions  here  are  such  as 
to  produce  a  strong  desire  for  the  study  of  any  subject  whatever 
for  its  own  sake,  considered  apart  from  the  vocation  of  the 
student. 


II 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  this  atmosphere  of  culture, 
with  its  keen  delight  in  all  kinds  of  learning  for  its  own  sake, 
should  not  here  be  yet  highly  developed.  The  interests  of  our 
people  are  material,  and,  under  such'  conditions,  it  is  not  to  be 
expected  that  the  tastes  of  young  men  and  women  will  be  revolu- 
tionized by  four  years  of  college  life.  Moreover,  the  university 
itself,  unlike  the  older  institutions  with  their  centuries  of  devotion 
to  intellectual  ideals,  has  behind  it  no  traditions  of  culture  except 
such  as  have  been  formed  in  its  own  short  life.  At  best,  these 
traditions  are  of  slow  growth,  but  I  think  that  here  they  are 
retarded  by  the  stress  that  is  placed  on  the  practical  side  of 
education.  With  so  much  emphasis  placed  on  the  relation  ot 
every  subject  of  study  to  vocation,  and  so  little  on  its  value  for 
the  mere  happiness  of  the  one  who  studies,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  tendency  towards  the  appreciation  of  things  for  them- 
selves, which  we  call  culture,  should  be  somewhat  late  in  making 
itself  strongly  felt. 

This  narrowing  of  education,  which  we  see  here,  for  the  purpose 
of  bringing  it  more  directly  to  bear  on  the  work  of  life  has 
important  effects  on  the  graduates  of  the  university.  For  one 
thing,  which  I  think  is  to  be  deplored,  the  interests  of  a  man 
narrowly  trained  are  bound  to  be  circumscribed.  He  is  con- 
fined practically  to  what  relates  to  his  daily  toil;  in  that  part  of 
his  life  which  remains  over  and  above  this,  in  which  he  gladly 
turns  to  other  things,  he  is  deprived  of  resources  that  would  add 
immensely  to  his  happiness.  Then,  too,  there  is  likely  to  be  a 
certain  provincialism  in  his  way  of  thinking.  This  usually  takes 
the  form  of  a  disparagement  of  what  he  himself  does  not  under- 
stand. This  inability  to  comprehend  another  point  of  view,  and 
to  recognize  the  value  of  what  is  done  in  other  lines  of  activity, 
is  one  of  the  most  disappointing  results  of  our  system  of  training. 
Among  our  many  compensations  for  these  disadvantages,  it  is 
worth  while  to  note,  first,  the  quality  in  the  training  here  that 
forbids  the  student  to  be  satisfied  with  himself,  and  that  urges  him 
on  to  still  greater  achievement  in  the  preparation  for  his  life- 
work.  If  the  statistics  were  compiled,  it  would  probably  be 
found  that  no  institution  has  a  greater  proportion  of  its  alumn 


engajj;cil  in  graduate  stiuly  than  our  own.  This  is  to  say  much 
for  the  real  inspiration  in  the  work  here.  Moreover,  what- 
ever else  may  be  said,  our  trainine;,  with  its  special  adaptation  to 
the  individual,  JK-ars  directly  on  the  problems  of  life.  If  it  is  not 
in  every  case  an  adequate  preparation  for  some  useful  calling,  it 
is  such  a  foundation  as  no  general  course  devised  for  purposes  of 
culture  could  give.  Of  this  fact,  the  success  that  has  already 
been  won  in  the  world  by  Stanford's  men  and  women  is  sufficient 
witness. 

Last,  but  not  least,  our  university  enriches  the  lives  of  her 
alumni  by  giving  them  in  herself  a  new  object  for  their  devotion 
and  their  love.  From  the  moment  we  leave  these  "stately,  splen- 
did, simple"  walls  of  stone,  she  sits  enthroned  in  our  hearts.  For 
her  honor  we  put  forth  our  noblest  efforts,  and  in  her  triumphs 
we  rejoice  with  exceeding  gladness.  Surely,  it  has  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  no  other  institution  to  have  lavished  upon  it  so  much  of 
unselfish  love.  This  love  not  only  ennobles  the  lives  of  those 
who  feel  it,  but  it  also  lays  upon  the  university  herself  no  light 
burden  of  responsibility ;  and  yet  we  may  be  sure  that,  animated 
by  the  spirit  of  our  Founders,  and  directed  by  the  genius  of  him 
who  both  guides  her  and  loves  her,  she  will  satisfy  our  aspira- 
tions in  the  future  as  she  has  always  done  in  the  past. 

JEFFERSON  ELMORE. 


ONE    THING  >IORE. 

The  years  that  have  gone  by  since  the  founding  of  our  Alma 
Mater  are  too  few  yet  to  bring  back  alumni  old  and  wise,  full  of 
years  and  knowledge,  who  will  deliver  addresses  of  instruction. 
Rather  must  it  be  a  group  of  old  friends  who  have  met  to  give 
one  another  the  experiences  of  the  past  year,  both  for  entertain- 
ment and  benefit.  What  are  some  of  the  problems  of  life  that 
have  come  to  us?  What  its  duties?  How  has  our  university 
training  helped  in  their  discharge?  Any  that  may  be  mentioned 
are  old  —  as  old  as  human  learning;  but  to  us  they  are  new — as 
new  as  the  questions  and  perplexities  of  yesterday. 

For  example,  last  year  we  had  ably  discussed  the  adjustment 
of  the  graduate  to  the  old  situations  and  institutions  of  the  com- 
munity. There  is  a  conflict  of  soul  in  our  effort  to  be  sincere  in 
our  new  opinions,  gathered  here  and  there  in  the  university,  and 
at  the  same  time  not  commit  the  double  fault  of  becoming  simply 
destructive  critics,  and  hence  ineffective  members  of  society;  for, 
with  a  movement  as  with  a  man :  the  measure  of  its  worth  should 
be  in  terms  of  its  output, — its  actual  power  to  bring  some  worthy 
thing  to  pass.  As  children  first  see  the  world  in  its  phenomenal 
aspect,  and  only  by  a  larger  and  actual  living  discover  the 
deeper  relations  amongst  all  matter,  so  one  of  the  results, 
unfortunately,  of  having  our  eyes  opened  to  the  seeming,  if  not 
actual,  worthlessness  of  the  hangings  on  and  trappings  of  institu- 
tions is,  that  we  judge  the  whole  by  these,  and  fail  to  see  beneath 
the  deep,  unifying  core  that  perpetuates  life.  In  the  older  days 
the  astronomer  settled  all  his  questions  by  an  appeal  to  Aristotle, 
and  the  ecclesiast,  all  his  world-problems  by  an  appeal  to  the 
Bible;  so  we  are  apt  to  think  we  have  settled  the  value  and  reality 
of  current  dogmas,  isms,  or  creeds,  by  hitting  them  off  with  a 
scientific  phrase,  or  hanging  them  on  some  of  the  miscellaneous 
hooks  of  terms  or  words;  as,  "that's  philosophy;"  "that's 
determinism;"  "that's  a  priori;""  "that's  not  evolution;" 
"that's  theory,"  or  what  not. 


14 

With  the  university's  opportunities  in  the  way  of  life,  there, 
of  course,  must  go  those  of  death.  The  gradations  toward  either 
are  exceedingly  easy.  When  one  remembers  how  much  our  very 
personality  is  a  composite,  as  James  says,  of  our  bodies,  our 
clothes,  our  friends,  and,  in  a  more  real  way,  of  our  emotions, 
our  opinions,  and  ideals,  we  shall  see  that  the  destruction  of  any 
of  these  "me's"  is  not  simply  a  loss  of  a  few  notions  more  or 
less,  but  a  direct  change  in  the  personality  itself.  Take  a  child 
of  the  world,  a  cosmopolitan  before  it  has  come  to  its  teens,  who 
has  summered  at  various  Newports,  and  wintered  at  various 
Floridas, — a  child  without  a  country,  without  a  religion,  without 
social  orientation.  What  are  his  standards  of  judgment?  What 
his  bases  of  comparison?  What  his  feelings  toward  the  matters  of 
personal  significance?  He  has  widely  diffused  knowledge,  but 
no  systems  of  values.  He  has  a  large  horizon  of  emotions, 
opinions,  ideals,  met  with  in  others;  but  he  has  no  interpretative 
experiences  of  his  own.  All  lands  are  alike  to  him;  no  relations 
to  people  or  institutions  are  sacred,  warm  or  potential.  As  a 
youth,  he  has  no  inspiration;  when  a  citizen,  he  will  have  no 
force.  As  a  critic,  he  has  not  had  the  deep,  personal  relations 
to  Hfe's  factors  to  give  him  the  insight  of  revelation.  All  this  is 
consequent,  notice,  upon  an  education  freed  from  the  influence 
of  any  permanent  state,  family,  or  religious  environment,  not- 
withstanding our  inherited  intellectual  and  emotional  capacity. 

To  a  certain  degree,  the  university  may  produce  the  same 
mental  states  in  the  adolescent  as  did  the  changing  environment 
in  the  child.  Growth  in  plant-life  into  a  desired  shape  and 
stability  is  effected  gradually,  through  no  severe  wrenching  or 
tearing  asunder.  The  sudden  breaking  down  of  all  the  measur- 
ing-rods of  life  is  fatal,  to  my  mind,  from  every  point  of  view. 
Instead  of  the  gradual  supplanting  of  the  old  by  the  new,  the 
evolving  of  the  small  truth  into  the  larger,  there  is  often  the  rude 
breaking  to  pieces  of  the  units  of  life  by  the  unveiled  reflections, 
the  gentle  ridicule,  the  composed  assertion,  worthy  of  other 
and  past  generations.  And  what  has  the  student  in  compensa- 
tion? He  has  new  opinions,  as  square  and  hard  and  sharp  as 
the  phenomenal  world  on  which  a  new-born  child  looks.     As 


15 

from  a  mountain  top  he  sees  the  peoples  in  their  struggles,  their 
vices,  their  organizations;  he  explains  their  origin,  traces  their 
growth,  and  gives  opinions  on  their  characters.  But  along  with 
these  mental  heights  there  may  go,  as  with  the  much-traveled 
youth,  mental  disintegration;  he  has  great  powers,  but  no  direc- 
tion in  which  to  turn  them.  Speak  of  physical  tragedy  !  It  is 
simply  commensurate  with  the  heart-tragedy,  which  involves  the 
breaking  up  of  the  core  of  life,  the  nucleus  of  self,  the  death  of 
that  fervent  spirit  that  has  warmed  and  unified  all  the  units  of 
being. 

To  me,  Le  Bon,  in  his  book.  The  Crowd,  illustrates  this  mental 
state.  He  has  surveyed  the  whole  area  of  society;  it  is  made 
up  of  factors  drawn  hither  and  thither  by  impulse,  suggestion,  the 
strongest  physical  or  psychical  motive  of  the  moment.  As  a 
god  he  surveys,  and  says,  "  If  they  but  knew!  These  ideals, 
these  visions,  these  religious  aspirations,  are  nothing;  yet  they 
are  necessary  to  the  ignorant  people;  they  serve  to  elevate  them. 
Ignorance  is  not  only  bliss;  it  is  salvation.  As  France  is  becom- 
ing disillusioned  through  the  spread  of  knowledge,  she  is  degen- 
erating." According  to  this  view,  universities  are  destructive 
of  the  best  interests  of  a  government.  Falsehoods,  old  women's 
fancies,  and  mysticisms  of  hoary  age  are  necessary  to  the  happi- 
ness and  continuity  of  the  state.  Does  truth  degrade,  and  lies 
elevate  ?  Such  is  the  deduction.  Better  ten  ignorant  men  with 
the  light  of  hope  on  their  faces,  the  courage  of  conviction  in 
their  souls,  full  of  an  integrating  purpose,  than  a  state  full  of 
the  other  kind,  whether  university-trained  or  not.  I  am  glad  our 
Alma  Mater,  as  a  whole,  has  a  world-creed  of  her  own,  a  faith 
which  is  constructive,  principles  that  are  ideal,  such  as  "  The  heart 
of  this  old  world  is  safe  and  sound;  truth  preserves,  and  false- 
hood destroys." 

But  the  understanding  of  these  as  simply  new  and  more 
general  forms  of  old  beliefs  does  not  always  come,  either  on  account 
of  the  student's  inability  or  the  professor's  efforts  to  make  the  con- 
trast strong,  and  the  university  alumnus  may — alas,  often  does  — 
go  out  into  the  great  active  world  with  his  ballast  of  family 
faiths  gone,  and  no  others  on  board.     The  proof  of  this  lies  in 


1 6 

what  he  does,  or  fails  to  do.  No  other  earthly  measure  have  we. 
His  intellect  should  help  him  conceive  some  desirable  action;  his 
emotional  nature,  sensitive  and  warm,  should  im])el  toward  the 
carrying  it  out.      But  how  is  it? 

Miss  Palmer's  paper  is  encouraging,  in  that  it  shows  that  the 
life  of  the  university  has  made  only  a  small  decrease  in  the 
activity  of  her  children  in  work  through  the  church.  In  other 
words,  those  that  were  not  active  at  their  entrance,  the  four  years 
of  higher  life  has  not  inspired,  and  has  even  reduced  to  inaction 
part  of  those  who  were  working  through  the  virtually  only  effica- 
cious avenue  for  the  world's  spiritual  elevation.  Has  the  univer- 
sity fulfilled  its  obligations  when  it  has  bestowed  the  gifts  of 
knowledge?  Our  president  has  said  its  function  is  to  reveal 
power.  Both  notions  are  factors;  but  the  knowledge  must 
become  incarnate;  the  opinions  must  have  the  blood  of  life  in  them; 
the  purposes  must  be  unified  into  an  all-controlling  conviction, — a 
conviction — that's  the  word!  —  that  there  are  great  evils  to  be 
eradicated,  tyrannical  wrongs  to  be  righted,  gross  injustices  to  be 
rectified,  high  ideals  to  be  gained;  that  duty  is  the  king  of 
motives.  When?  As  soon  as  possible  —  now.  By  whom? 
By  me,  by  you.  Convictions  that  will  swing  all  the  knowledge 
these  walls  have  given,  all  the  powers  these  labor-\tories  have 
revealed,  into  some  line  for  God  and  the  right.  Political,  reli- 
gious, ethical,  social  convictions,  —  not  mere  opinions  —  diction- 
aries have  these,  encyclopaedias  have  these — but  impelling  forces 
that  will  make  for  righteousness,  leading  us  not  only  to  think 
about,  but  act  for  righteousness.  With  conviction,  the  univer- 
sity man  may  become  as  Abraham  of  old,  the  friend  of  God,  a 
veritable  Luther  or  Gladstone,  looming  up  mountain-high  among 
his  fellows;  without  it,  he  is  the  social  remnant  that  simply  e.xists, 
because  of  non-interference.  In  society,  our  college  brother, 
with  large  historic  perspective,  sees  how  present  social  differences 
arose  by  the  strength  or  ingenuity  of  one  class,  the  laziness  or 
artlessness  of  an  other;  and  with  composure  says,  "These  condi- 
tions are  unpleasant,  but  they  are  as  natural  sequences  as  a 
valley  or  ocean  current.  Whatever  is,  is  right ;  at  least,  it 
can't  be  changed  until  the  next  step  in  evolution  arrives." 


17 

Meanwhile  he  rests  and  reads  more  about  the  conditions,  while 
the  man  of  smallef  vision,  but  one  whose  head  has  not  been  cooled 
by  any  philosophy  that  permits  ease  while  evil  reigns,  or  his  brother 
suffers,  runs  up  his  banner  "Excelsior,"  and  when  he  falls,  not 
from  rust,  but  wear,  his  face  is  toward  the  goal.  As  a  John 
Brown  or  a  Garrison,  he  forces  down  and  aside  the  bars  and 
doors  that  have  closed  opportunity.  They  did  not  wait  the  next 
step  in  evolution;  they  made  it.  What  they  did,  not  simply 
considered  and  rationalized  about,  might  have  been  accomplished 
by  the  less  wasteful  methods  of  evolution.  But  who  shall  say 
how  long  the  inertness  and  slavish  spirit  of  the  blacks,  the  caste- 
feelings,  the  pecuniary  considerations,  and  many  other  factors, 
would  have  perpetuated  this  slave  institution  ?  Often,  instead  of 
time  solving  such  problems,  passing  years  introduce  new  ele- 
ments, increase  the  complexity  of  the  situation,  draw  closer  the 
already  existing  bonds,  so  that  the  only  remedial  agent  possible 
is  some  bold  Alexandrian  stroke,  that  severs  the  knots  of  injus- 
tice, of  convention,  of  edict. 

What  was  true  in  '60  is  true  in  other  forms  to-day.  While 
many  a  citizen  of  large  knowledge  of  the  origin  and  value  of 
vice  is  saying,  ' '  Let  them  alone,  these  sinful  people,  these 
vicious  ones,  these  drunken  and  depraved;  the  laws  of  nature, 
the  strife  of  circumstances,  their  inherited  qualities,  their  innate 
weaknesses,  will  settle  their  questions,  their  fate,"  some  eloquent 
Gough  with  a  message  on  his  lips,  or  consecrated  Mrs.  Booth, 
whose  heart  is  the  altar  of  God,  says,  "iHold,  our  brother  sinks! 
Run  out  the  life-line!"  and  in  they  wade,  and  do  what  they  can. 
And  while  we  knowing  ones  have  been  theorizing  about  the  prin- 
ciples and  methods  and  necessity  of  these  fanatical  sacrifices,  the 
literal  thousands,  now  clothed  and  in  their  right  minds,  strength- 
ened and  saved,  rise  up  to  call  such  fanatics  blessed!  To  my 
mind,  there  is  no  question  that  men  of  small  mental  furnishing, 
but  with  that  little  unified,  integrated,  and  fired  with  a  deep,  pro- 
pelling purpose,  are  bringing  much  more  of  permanent  value 
to  pass  than  many — too  many  —  of  large  university  training. 
Their  heat,  though  small,  will  cook  something  for  the  famishing 
spirits  of  men,  while  the  others'  larger  heat,  scattered  and  diffused 


through  a  hogshead,  is  neither  hot  enough  to  prepare  food  nor 
cold  enough  to  preserve  it;  —  such  men  are  too  learned  to 
strengthen  the  conventions  of  society  through  imitation,  and 
too  forceless  to  inaugurate  new  ones. 

Should  this  be  so  ?  And  does  it  all  mean  that  our  sojourn 
here  on  the  quadrangle  is  enervating,  and  not  to  be  desired  ? 
Certainly,  I  think  not.  And  I  reflect  no  more  on  the  modern 
institutions  when  I  mention  these  types,  several  of  whom  have 
come  within  my  short  experience,  than  you  on  the  large  value  of 
the  small  college  when  you  say  its  laboratories  are  limited,  or  on  the 
universities  of  the  Middle  Ages  when  you  say  they  were  too 
scholastic  or  too  ecclesiastic.  The  largeness  of  the  lights,  the 
varied  and  developing  perspective  obtained  through  historic  and 
scientific  study,  instead  of  dazing  and  enervating,  should  stimu- 
late to  movement,  more  powerful  and  more  effective,  as  there 
are  larger  means  of  judging  effects  from  causes.  It  is  small 
consolation  that  the  four  years  of  preparation  here  has  ser\'ed  to 
diminish  efficiency  in  a  great  representative  institution;  or  in 
other  words,  that  the  minority  should  say,  We  have  remained 
active,  notwithstanding  our  teachings  at  Stanford.  The  deeper 
ingoing  into  the  accessories  and  adventitous  belongings  of 
organizations  and  conventions  have,  on  the  one  hand,  shown  the 
worthlessness  of  some,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  great  value  of 
most  of  them.  Is  it  the  spirit  of  a  paralyzing  rationalism  which 
is  peculiar  to  the  age,  and  which  would  work,  despite  the  univer- 
sity ?  No.  The  echo  of  the  vast  Christian  Endeavor  Society 
which  gathered  on  our  Coast  has  hardly  quieted;  and  at  the 
same  time  the  piling  thousands  of  the  Epworth  League  were 
carrying  Toronto  by  storm.  Who  were  they  ?  The  flower  of 
this  country;  young  people  of  colleges  and  universities,  lawyers, 
preachers,  business  men.  What  did  they  do  ?  Why,  after  a 
a  year  in  food-giving,  coal-giving,  time-giving,  heart-giving, 
self-giving,  they  come  together  to  plan  and  rejoice.  What  do 
they  say  are  the  springs  of  their  actions  ?  Faith,  prayer,  the 
presence  and  power  of  God  in  the  human  heart, —  some  of  the 
very  things  that  are  thought  to  be  so  out  of  date,  so  tainted  with 
mediaevalism.     Are  these  people  ignorant  of  the  science,  of  the 


19 

history,  of  the  sociology,  which  are  taught  here  ?  Not  at  all. 
They  have  this,  and  more  :  spirit,  conviction,  and  ordering  faith. 
Berkeley  has  men  heavy  and  skillful  in  football,  but  weight  and 
skill  are  only  two  factors ;  so  we  have  our  yell,  our  rooters, 
our  student-body  meetings,  where  enthusiasm  is  stirred,  faith  is 
kindled,  and  purpose  for  victory  is  enlarged.  Then  what? 
The  world  knows  the  rest.  Notice:  this  resolving  of  all  else  into 
one  deep  purpose  was  a  part  of  the  preparation.  The  ball-field 
is  life. 

Is  it  better  in  poHtics  than  in  the  church?  See  how  university 
people  withdraw  from  party  activities.  By  so  doing  they  effect 
nothing  good  or  evil.  Dr.  Ross  says:  "As  long  as  participation 
in  politics  is  considered  a  disagreeable  duty,  by  people  who  are 
capable  of  dispassionate  judgment,  the  class  that  considers  it  a 
business,  a  pleasure,  and  therefore  a  duty,  will  control  the  funda- 
mental factors  in  American  politics.  This  country  is  more  apt  to 
suffer  from  the  apathy  and  lack  of  energy  on  the  part  of  the 
educated  and  better  classes,  than  through  the  ignorance  and 
carelessness  of  the  humble  grades  of  society."  Many  men  of 
great  zeal,  following  the  usual  methods  of  political  action,  are 
staying  the  powers  of  evil  to  some  degree,  and  are  really  the  salt 
of  the  political  earth;  while  the  scholar,  too  considerate,  too  slow 
to  act,  too  fearful  of  sullying  his  hands  —  not  his  heart  —  in 
indiscriminate  warfare,  lets  the  saloon,  the  self-seekers,  win  the 
day. 

This  does  not  imply  argument  with  conscience,  concession  to 
evil,  or  deviation  from  a  person's  best  moral  standard,  but  a 
using  of  channels  of  power  for  good  rather  than  evil  ends.  We 
have  to  work  with  the  world  as  it  now  is;  ideal  methods  would 
be  applicable  to  ideal  society.  Universal  education  has  not  freed 
communities  from  the  power  of  leaders  ;  indeed,  the  boss 
seems  to  have  grown  as  have  the  public  schools.  The  most 
effectively  dominated  city  I  know  has  a  well- equipped  kinder- 
garten in  every  ward,  superior,  intermediate,  and  high  schools,  a 
large  normal,  and  two  universities  within  her  county.  Illiteracy 
is  virtually  unknown,  yet  the  power  of  the  boss  waxes  year 
by  year.     What  opportunities   for   the  utilization  of  the  expe- 


20 

rience  of  history,  of  psychology,  of  sociology,  of  economics,  by 
the  host  of  university  citizens  who  live  within  her  borders  !  But 
do  they  so  utilize  them  ?  The  rather  are  they  the  smallest  force 
in  the  whole  matter, — smallest  in  proportion  to  their  number,  and 
much  more  so  in  proportion  to  their  powers  and  possibilities. 
We  need  conviction  that  will  forget  the  smaller  self,  stop  quib- 
bling over  minor  means,  and  follow  the  lord  of  duty.  Especially 
should  representatives  of  this  institution  become  not  only  sources 
of  light,  but  bearers  of  light — where  emphasis  is  placed  on  living 
up  to  the  truth  that  now  is,  using  the  means  that  lie  about  us, — no 
dreamers  or  hermits,  but  workers  under  the  heat  and  light  of 
to-day's  sun. 

Over  and  over  again  in  these  halls,  we  have  been  impressed 
with  a  knowledge  of  God's  laws,  his  prizes,  his  penalties,  his 
rewards  for  action,  his  punishment  of  lethargy,  deduced  from 
the  great  volumes  of  nature  and  the  clear  voice  of  experience, 
deeply  implanted  on  the  consciences  of  the  human  world.  But 
just  as  truly  does  the  history  of  mankind  show  that  God  has 
brought  truth  to  life,  and  life  to  his  people,  through  men  of 
conviction,  showing  faith  and  unified  life.  Without  these, 
knowledge  is  as  foreign  substance  in  the  body;  with  them,  it  is 
power, —  the  power  of  God  unto  righteousness. 

CHAS.  J.   C.  BENNETT. 


ALUMNI     DAY, 

May  24,  1898. 


BUSINESS  MEETING. 

The  annual  business  meeting  of  the  Alumni  Association  was 
called  to  order  by  President  Field  in  room  21,  Quadrangle 
Tuesday,  May  24th. 

The  minutes  of  the  previous  meeting  were  read  and  approved. 
The  provisional  report  of  the  Treasurer  was  also  read  and  accepted. 
Mr.  Whittier,  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee,  reported 
that  the  returns  for  the  proposed  Directory  of  Alumni  were  slow 
in  coming  in,  but  that  he  hoped  to  issue  it  before  the  next  annual 
meeting. 

In  accordance  with  a  resolution  adopted  at  a  previous  meet- 
ing (February  22,  1898),  a  number  of  Auxiliary  Alumni  Asso- 
ciations were  established,  and  interesting  reports  from  those  in 
New  York,  Portland,  Los  Angeles,  and  San  Francisco  were  read 
by  the  Secretary.  The  report  from  the  Association  in  New  York 
City  is  as  follows: — 

"  The  Stanford  Club  in  New  York  City  held  its  first  reunion 
on  Thanksgiving  evening,  1897.  A  theater  party,  followed  by  a 
supper,  afforded  us  a  very  pleasant  evening.  When  the  telegram 
announcing  the  football  victory  was  read  at  the  supper,  there 
were  twenty-two  loyal  sons  of  Stanford  to  join  in  the  yell  which 
followed.  Mr.  J.  M.  Wight,  President  of  the  Club,  acted  as 
toast-master,  and  called  for  the  following  toasts:  The  Founders, 
L.  N.  Chase,  ex-'95;  Athletics,  J.  P.  Bernhard,  '96;  Our  Presi- 
dent, Harry  Hazzard,  '97;  The  Alumni,  George  F.  Vanderven, 
'96;  The  Future  of  the  University,  J.  E.  Reynolds,  '96. 
The  speeches  were  of  such  a  high  order  that  one  could 
almost  imagine  himself  listening  to  a   Berkeley  debater.     The 


evening  was  a  success,  and  an  annual   reunion  is  an  assured  fact 
for  the  future. 

"Stanford  University  is  well  represented  in^New  York  City,  as 
will  be  seen  from  the  following  list:  J.  M.  Wight,  '93,  is  at 
present  practicing  law;  T.  R.  Warren,  '94,  was  graduated  last 
year  from  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  and  is  now  assisting 
Dr.  Newton;  A.  W.  Cuddeback,  '94,  is  an  engineer  with  the 
Broadway  Cable  Company;  F.  E.  Kessinger,  '95,  is  a  lawyer, 
having  graduated  with  honor  from  the  New  York  Law  School 
with  the  Class  of  '97;  F.  J.  Batchelder,  ex-' 94,  is  with  the 
Electrical  World;  L.  N.  Chase,  ex-' 95,  is  a  candidate  for  the 
degree  of  Ph.  D.  in  Columbia  College. 

"  Stanford  may  well  be  proud  of  the  record  her  men  are  making 
in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  Harry  Reynolds, 
'96;  Guy  Cochran,  '96;  T.  G.  Russell,  '95;  Horace  Campbell, 
ex-' 96;  Al  Spalding,  '96;  T.  M.  Williams,  '97;  Gibbs  and 
Yocum,  ex-' 99,  are  all  doing  fine  work.  Reynolds,  Cochran,  and 
Williams  are  prosectors.  C.  B.  Pinkham,  '96,  is  studying 
medicine  at  the  Homoeopathic  College,  while  L.  S.  Mace,  '96,  is 
at  Bellevue  Medical  College.  The  following  men  are  at  the 
Columbia  Law  School:  J.  E.  Reynolds,  '96;  G.  F.  Vanderven, 
'96;  C.  W.  Miller,  '96;  J.  E.  Lawsh6,  '96;  K.  Mackintosh,  '95  ; 
Harry  Hazzard, '97;  and  John  Gait,  ex-'98.  J.  P.  Bernhard, '96, 
and  C.  H.  Labb4,  '96,  finish  this  year  at  the  New  York  Law 
School.  Rambo,  ex' -98,  is  in  the  Columbia  School  of  Mines. 
Thomas  Whiffen,  ex-' 97,  is  with  the  Lyceum  Stock  Company. 
George  Robinson  is  preparing  for  the  stage.  The  address  of 
any  of  these  men  may  be  found  by  addressing  J.  M.  Wight,  58 
William  Street,  New  York  City. 

"(Signed)  C.  H.  LABBE, 

"  Secretary  Stanford  Club. 

"325  W.  Fifty-eighth  Street,  New  York  City." 

An  interesting  report  was  also  received  from  the  Portland 
Club:- 

' '  Strictly  speaking,  our  organization  is  not  a  branch  of  the 
Alumni    Association, —  graduates,    undergraduates,   and    former 


23 

students  not  being  distinguished.  According  to  the  constitution 
adopted  in  June,  1896,  the  date]  of  its  conception,  '  all  persons 
who  have  matriculated  and  spent  a  year  as  students  at  the  Leland 
Stanford  Junior  University,  and  are  residents  of  Portland  or  vicin- 
ity, may  become  members  of  this  club  by  signing  the  constitution, 
and  being  elected  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  members  present  at 
any  regular  meeting.'  Practically,  however,  all  the  Stanford  peo- 
ple we  can  gather  together^  herej  have  so  far  been  considered 
members.  I  inclose  a  list  of  those  who  appear  upon  the  roll  of 
members,  together  with  a  list^of  officers,  past  and  present.  Dave 
Brown  and  John  Brunton  were  elected  honorary  members  upon 
the  occasion  of  the  Multnomah-Olympic  field-day  in  this  city, 
on  which  we  turned  out  in  a^  body  for  the  first  time,  and  from  a 
cardinal-decorated  section  of  the  grand  stand  rooted  for  the 
Stanford  men  who  took  part,  but,  unfortunately,  there  was  a  good- 
sized  hoodoo  present,  who  came  early  to  avoid  the  rush,  and  he 
proved  too  much  for  us. 

"We  have  given  two  very  successful  banquets,  at  which  ap- 
propriate toasts  were  responded  to,  the  old  songs  sung  over  again, 
and  the  yell  given  with  the'^vim  which  can  come  only  from  a 
Stanford  crowd.  Unofiicially,  we  look  after  prospective  students, 
and,  as  Carolus  Ager  would  say,  '  give  them  pointers  on  the 
university.'  In  the  same  way,5,we  do  our  best  to  entertain  Stan- 
ford people  who  come  this  way'during  the  summer  months,  but 
in  this  respect  I  am  afraid  we'^  have  not  always  succeeded  very 
well.  Portland,  during  that"period  of  the  year,  is  dull.  Every- 
body who  possibly  can  rushes  off  to  the  coast  or  mountains  to 
avoid  the  oppressive  heat  and  smoke  of  the  city.  This  is  a  fact, 
despite  the  popular  impression  that  it  always  rains  in  Oregon. 
Some  day,  however,  we  expect  to  have  a  handsome  clubhouse 
to  receive  our  friends,  but  this  may  be  only  one  of  the  many 
castles  we  are  building  in  the  air. 

"The  annual  banquet,  which  is  given  generally  upon  the 
return  of  the  students  from  the  university  at  the  close  of  the 
year,  is  always  looked  forward  to,  but  just  what  the  plans  are 
for  this  year  I  cannot  say,  as  five  or  six  of  our  number,  in- 
cluding the  president  and  secretary,  expect  to  be  called  to  the 


24 

front  at  any  time  now,  as  we  are  members  of  the  National  Guard, 
and  have  volunteered  to  line  up  against  the  Spaniards. 

"  (Signed)         ROBERT  J.  ONEIL,  Secretary." 

From  San  Francisco  came  the  following  report:  — 

"The  Stanford  Alumni  Club  of  San  Francisco,  consisting  of 
the  alumni  of  the  university  and  associate  members,  was 
organized  in  December,  1896.  The  present  membership  is  about 
one  hundred.  We  have  had  several  banquets  and  meetings,  and 
have  endeavored,  with  good  success,  to  keep  up  the  fellowship 
of  Stanford  associations  and  the  boon  comrade  spirit  of  the  days 
of  Auld  Lang  Syne.  For  the  year  1896-97  we  elected  the  fol- 
lowing officers:  G.  E.  Crothers,  '95,  President;  C.  K.  Field,  '95, 
Vice-President;  W.  E.  Stuart,  '95,  Secretary;  L.  J.  Hinsdill,  '95, 
Treasurer.  At  our  last  reunion  in  February  of  this  year  w^e  held 
our  annual  banquet  and  business  meeting,  and  elected  H.  H. 
Brown,  '96,  President;  Scott  Calhoun,  '95,  Vice-President;  W. 
E.  Stuart,  '95,  Secretary;  and  J.  M.  Ross,  '96,  Treasurer, —  all  for 
the  year    1898. 

"  I  inclose  you  the  first  register  of  our  club.  We  have  been 
under  great  difficulty  in  preparing  it,  and  if  we  have  not  come 
up  to  expectations,  our  first  efforts  may  be  excused. 

"  Our  club  fosters  the  spirit  of  love  for  our  Alma  Mater,  and 
keeps  a  watchful  eye  for  the  university's  interests. 

"(Signed)         W.   E.  STUART,  Secretary." 

An  account  of  the  organization  of  the  Los  Angeles  association 

was  published  in  the  Sequoia,  April  22,  1898,  and  is  reprinted 

here: — 

"  Los  Angeles,  April  2. 

' '  The  conservative  elevator-boy  who  pumps  the  conservative 

elevator  at  the  Nadeau  Hotel  blinked  in  wonder  yesterday.      His 

bell  was  rung  and  rung  again  by  unknown  people  wearing  red 

roses,  carnations,   pins,   neckties,   anything  and  everything  that 

might  be  known  as  cardinal.     And  by  and  by  it  dawned  upon  his 

consciousness,  in  the  course  of  sundry  questions  and  overheard 


2"; 

gossipings,  that  these  people  all  had  something  to  do  with  some 
place  called  Stanford,  which  seemed  to  be  the  only  thing  they 
had  ever  heard  or  cared  to  hear  about. 

"  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Southern  California  thought  she  might 
as  well  have  an  organization  rendering  loyalty  to  the  cardinal  as 
Northern  California,  and  with  this  in  view,  all  "alumni,  students 
and  ex-students"  in  this  part  of  the  state  assembled  to  discuss 
the  matter,  the  discussion  being  supported  by  the  best  lunch 
the  Nadeau  knows  how  to  set  forth. 

' '  The  day  was  well  chosen,  being  in  the  week  of  Teachers' 
Convention,  and  many  were  the  pedagogues  dwelling  in  southern 
counties  who  helped  to  swell  the  number.  (If  all  Stanford  alumni 
who  have  become  pedagogues    could  take    hold    of  hands  and 

form  a  circle,  they  would  reach  as  far  as the  result  is  left  to 

modern  journalism.)  The  best  part  of  the  feast  was  the  presence 
of  a  number  of  well-known  professors.  Dr.  Jordan,  with  Mrs. 
Jordan  and  their  son,  were  seen  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and 
Professors  Duniway,  Goebel,  Starbuck,  Sanford,  and  Cubberley 
were  present.  Mr.  Zion  came  late,  and  hung  his  hat  on  the 
chandelier,  and  made  lots  of  amendments  to  the  constitution.  Mr. 
De  Los  Magee  acted  as  chairman,  and  was  afterwards  chosen 
president  of  the  association,  Mr.  Mills  being  secretary,  and  Miss 
Kate  Nash  treasurer,  in  case  there  should  be  anything  to  treasure. 
Mr.  Mills  read  the  constitution  while  other  people  ate  ice-cream. 
Differences  of  opinion  were  smoothed  out,  and  the  affair  ended 
with  the  biggest  Stanford  yell  that  the  old  Nadeau  ever  heard — 
such  a  yell  that  a  crisp  little  brunette  waitress  spilled  bouillon  down 
a  Roman-striped  breadth,  and  the  Chinaman  scalded  his  fingers 
in  the  kitchen  below. 

"Among  those  present  were:  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Jordan;  Professors 
Goebel,  Sanford,  Cubberley,  Duniway,  Starbuck,  and  Dickinson; 
Misses  Nash,  Jessie  Wood,  Rose  Smith,  Josephine  Beady,  Grace 
Morgan,  Mary  Polk,  Sarah  Comstock,  Agnes  Bowman,  Dora 
Moody;  Messrs.  De  Los  Magee,  Mills,  Harry  Turner,  Workman, 
Holmes,  Oliver  Morton,  Burt  Kinney,  C.  P.  Hodgson,  M.  . 
Tucker,  Roy  Ely,  E.  R.  Zion,  and  Colgrove.  Angelina. 

"  P.  S. — They  let  Mr.  Mills  finish  his  ice-cream  afterwards." 


26 

The  following  business  was  then  transacted:  A  suggestion 
made  by  Mr.  Whittier  that,  as  the  promenade  concert  is  intended 
eventually  to  become  an  alumni  institution,  the  Association  assist  the 
Class  of '98  in  bearing  the  expense,  resulted  in  a  motion  made  and 
carried  that  the  Secretary  be  authorized  to  draw  on  the  Treasurer 
for  any  sum  the  Senior  Class  might  need  to  assist  in  paying  for  a 
suitable  promenade  concert,  the  amount  not  to  exceed  $50. 

Mr.  Bledsoe  moved  to  refer  the  matter  of  an  alumni  weekly, 
giving  a  resum^  of  alumni  news  and  other  university  matters  of 
interest,  to  the  Executive  Committee  with  full  power  to  act. 
Carried. 

It  was  suggested  that  the  printed  reports  of  the  proceedings 
be  of  uniform  size. 

The  meeting  then  proceeded  to  the  election  of  officers  with 
the  following  result:  President,  C.  B.  Whittier, '93;  Vice-Presi- 
dent, B.  F.  Bledsoe,  '95;  Secretary,  Miss  H.  L.  StadtmuUer,  '95; 
Treasurer,  C.  E.  Cox,  '93;  Executive  Committee,  J.  Elmore,  '95, 
A.  Lewns,  '95,  Miss  H.  Cory,  '95, 

The  meeting  then  adjourned  to  the  chapel,  where  addresses 
were  made  by  J.  Elmore,  '95,  C,  J.  C.  Bennett,  '96.  and  President 
Jordan.  At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Jordan's  remarks,  which  dealt 
with  the  taxation  of  the  university,  the  following  resolutions, 
introduced  by  Mr.  Whittier,  were  unanimously  adopted: — 

"Whereas,  By  the  provisions  of  our  State  Constitution  our 
university  is  paying  and  is  compelled  to  pay  taxes  on  all  of  its 
property,  and  accordingly  its  resources  and  usefulness  are  just  so 
far  lessened,  while  in  other  states  liberal  exemptions  of  the  prop- 
erty of  like  institutions  that  is  used  for  educational  purposes  are 
made,  and  thus  such  institutions  are  encouraged  and  aided  rather 
than  crippled;  and 

"  Whereas,  There  seems  to  be  no  reason  injustice  or  sound 
policy  why  our  state  should  not  follow  the  example  of  other 
states,  and  help  rather  than  hinder  the  institutions  of  learning 
within  its  borders;  therefore,  be  it 

' '  Resolved,  By  the  Alumni  Association  of  Leland  Stanford 
Junior  University,  that  all  the  alumni,  ex-students,  and  friends  of 
the  University  are    hereby  urged   to   use   all  proper   means    to 


27 

remedy  this  unfortunate  condition  of  our  state  law;  and  to  tiiat 
end  this  Association  suggests  and  recommends  the  following 
action  on  their  part  as  best  adapted  to  accomplish  the  desired 
result: — 

"  First.  That  all  vote  and  lead  others  to  vote  in  favor  of  hold- 
ing a  constitutional  convention  when  the  question  of  holding  such 
a  convention  is  presented  to  the  people  for  decision  at  the  next 
election.  In  a  constitutional  convention,  when  other  alterations 
are  being  made,  the  changes  which  we  desire  can  be  more  easily 
obtained. 

' '  Seco7id.  That  everything  possible  and  proper  be  done  to 
have  nominated  and  elected  to  our  next  Legislature  men  who, 
in  case  the  constitutional  convention  should  not  be  ordered  by 
the  people,  will  vote  to  refer  to  the  people  of  the  state  an 
amendment  to  our  Constitution,  exempting  such  property  used 
for  educational  purposes  as  is  usually  exempt  in  other  states. 

"  Whereas,  By  the  provisions  of  section  1313  of  the  Civil 
Code  of  our  state,  persons  who  desire  to  leave  their  property  to  the 
university,  and  who,  for  any  reason,  cannot  transfer  it  to  the  uni- 
versity before  their  death,  are  prevented  from  willing  to  the 
university  more  than  one-third  of  their  estate,  and  thus  gifts  to 
the  university  are  seriously  curtailed;  and 

"Whereas,  There  seems  to  be  no  sound  reason  for  such 
restrictions  on  bequests  or  demises  to  institutions  of  learning; 
therefore,  be  it 

^'Resolved,  By  the  Alumni  Association  of  Leland  Stanford 
Junior  University,  that  all  the  alumni,  ex-students,  and  friends  o^ 
the  University  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  urged  to  use  all  proper 
means  to  have  nominated  and  elected  to  our  next  legislature  men 
who  will  vote  for  such  amendment  of  the  above-mentioned  section 
of  our  Civil  Code  as  will  avoid  the  restrictions  which  it  puts  on 
persons  wishing  to  will  property  to  the  university." 

The  meeting  then  adjourned. 

H.  L.  STADTMULLER,  Secretary. 


28 


THE   ALUMNI    LUNCHEON. 

One  of  the  jtleasant  features  of  Alumni  Day  was  the  annual 
luncheon  served  at  two  o'clock  in  the  dining-room  of  Roble  Hall. 
There  was  a  large  attendance  of  alumni  from  all  parts  of  the 
state,  who,  after  enjoying  the  good  things  to  eat,  listened  with 
deep  interest  to  the  responses  to  the  different  toasts.  Charles  K. 
Field,  '95,  acted  as  toast-master.  After  expressing  to  the 
graduating  class  his  regret,  as  one  of  the  Class  of  '95,  that  the 
last  of  those  who  were  in  college  with  the  pioneers  were  now 
leaving,  taking  with  them  the  last  undergraduate  link  between 
'95  and  the  university,  he  said:  — 

"  This  is  a  time  of  good-bys;  we,  too,  say  farewell  to  you  as 
part  of  the  student-body  we  have  loved  to  revisit,  and  yet  we  can 
sound  the  note  of  welcome  also,  for  you  join  us  in  this  associa- 
tion, and  with  us  are  bound  by  it  to  the  university.  Some  of  us 
have  recently  said  good-by  to  men  of  '98  in  a  far  different  way 
from  the  manner  of  this  afternoon.  Yesterday  morning  I 
marched  over  the  cobblestones  of  San  Francisco  by  the  side  of  a 
'98  man,  my  dearest  friend  in  the  university,  and  said  good-by 
to  him  at  the  Mail  Dock  where  lay  the  Peking  waiting  for  the 
troops.  Will  you  pardon  me  if  I  lapse  into  an  old  habit  toward 
which  you  have  all  been  indulgent  in  the  past  ?  Whenever  I  felt 
things  strongly  here  in  my  student-life,  I  sank  into  verse.  The 
temptation  now  is  irresistible. 

"TO   '98. 

"  '  To  '98  '   my  subject  is, 

A  theme  of  greeting,  purely. 
To  give  }'Ou  welcome  to  our  ranks, — 

A  pleasant  duty,  surely; 
Yet,  while  I  speak  to  you,  and  see 

Your  well-known  college  faces. 
My  heart  is  with  those  Ninety-eights 

Who  stand  in  other  places. 


29 


' '  Above  their  white  Presidio  tents, 

Through  all  that  stormy  weather, 
They  flung  the  gleaming  Stars  and  Stripes 

And  Cardinal  together. 
And  clear  above  the  growing  din 

And  stir  of  camp  commotion 
They  sent  the  sound  of  our  old  yell 

Out-ringing  to  the  ocean. 

' '  Within  the  bright  Quad  yesterday, 

You  stood,  your  friends  around  you, 
And  pledged  alumnial  fealty  to 

The  common  tie  that  bound  you; 
They  tramped  it  to  the  waiting  ships 

To  face  what  lay  before  them. 
The  Stanford  yell  was  on  their  lips. 

The  Stanford  colors  o'er  them ! 


' '  Encina  gleamed  with  lights  and  flowers 

And  happy  music  thrilled  you, 
Commencement  flattery  made  sweet 

The  parting  grief  that  filled  you; 
They  crowded  down  between  the  decks 

Of  that  cramped  first  flotilla, 
Behind  them  home  and  love,  ahead 

The  menace  of  Manila. 


"They  went  before  Commencement  Week 

To  drudgery  unceasing. 
To  dangers  of  disease  and  war, 

With  every  day  increasing. 
And  some  shall  walk  these  well-loved  ways. 

Alumni  heroes,  later. 
And  some  shall  never  know  again 

The  smile  of  Alma  Mater. 


30 

' '  You  stand  as  ready  for  the  call, 

If  so  be  more  are  needed, 
And  if  our  country  speaks,  her  voice 

Will  not  be  raised  unheeded. 
Hail  and  Godspeed  to  Ninety-eight! 

You  know,  who  hear  me  speaking, 
Our  hearts  to-day  are  with  our  boys 

On  board  the  transport  Peking." 

The  response  on  behalf  of  '98  was  made  in  a  happy  manner 
by  S.  W.  Charles,  president  of  the  class.  He  returned  hearty 
thanks  for  the  kind  words  spoken  by  President  Field,  and  then 
referred  to  the  sacrifices  that  had  been  made  by  the  class  of  '98 
for  the  sake  of  leaving  behind  them  an  unspotted  record. 

John  F.  Sheehan,  Jr.,  '95,  was  then  called  upon  to  respond 
to  "The  Alumni  and  Athletics."  In  doing  so  Mr.  Sheehan 
spoke  as  follows :  — 

"  In  looking  over  this  group  of  faces,  it  is  difficult  for  me  to 
realize  that  three  years  have  gone  since  we  of  '95  were  in  the 
final  week  of  our  college  days,  as  you  of  '98  are  to-day;  and 
still  more  difficult  is  it  to  realize,  as  you  of  '98  will  have  it  come 
to  you,  perhaps  with  a  feeling  of  sadness,  that,  come  back  to 
college  as  we  may, —  engage  again,  perhaps,  lor  a  brief  period 
in  Stanford's  active  life, —  that,  after  all,  we  are  only  the  alumni. 

"  And  what  does  it  mean  to  be  an  alumnus?  I  don't  believe 
many  of  us  have  yet  solved  the  problem,  for  our  youth  is  still 
upon  us;  and  the  graduate  of  Stanford,  unlike  the  graduate  of 
Yale,  or  Harvard,  or  Princeton,  steps  from  the  college  threshold, 
not  into  an  association  strengthened  by  tradition,  with  a  system 
of  action  crystallized  by  years  of  life,  but  rather  into  an  organiza- 
tion yet  in  its  embryo,  but  in  which  I  know  there  slumbers  the 
fire  of  Stanford's  pioneer  spirit,  which,  as  each  one  of  us  gives  to 
it  his  mite,  will  broaden,  perhaps  before  we  are  aware  of  it,  into  an 
organization  of  maturity  and  of  strength. 

' '  There  are  many  ways  in  which  each  one  of  us  may  drop  his 
mite   into    the   box  for  Stanford's  success.       To  specify  would 


31 

be  impossible  ;  to  generalize  is  possible.  Perhaps  our  most 
active  interest,  at  least  in  the  youth  of  our  alumni  existence, 
turns  toward  the  success  of  the  athletics  of  our  Alma  Mater. 
There  is  no  denying  that  athletics  is  perhaps  the  strongest  link 
which  binds  the  alumni  and  undergraduate  life  together.  It  is 
so  in  all  universities  the  nation  over, —  a  potent  element  which 
serves  to  make  the  Uttle  college  world  what  it  is, —  after  all,  only 
a  wheel  within  the  wheel  of  the  bigger,  sterner  world.  Athletics 
has  done  much  for  Stanford.  It  has  done  much  for  the  men  who 
were  the  athletes.  Whatever  his  occupation,  a  man's  college 
athletic  training  will,  sooner  or  later,  display  itself  as  an  active 
force  in  his  career  of  life;  and  young  though  Stanford  is,  within 
a  very  few  years  her  athletes  will  represent  their  Alma  Mater  in 
nearly  every  sphere  of  life.  Why,  it  was  only  yesterday  morning 
that  a  crowd  of  us  old  Stanford  fellows  cheered  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  and  then  our  gallant  boys  in  Company  H  of  the  First 
Regiment,  as  they  marched  down  Market  Street  to  embark  for 
Manila.  And  some  of  them  were  Stanford  athletes,  who  only 
last  Thanksgiving  Day  were  boys  in  red,  batding  a  college 
enemy,  but  now,  only  a  few  months  later,  they  are  boys  in  blue, 
ready  to  battle  a  sterner  foe. 

"Upon  us  of  the  young  alumni,  upon  you  of  '98  as  well, 
devolves  the  duty  to  aid  old  Stanford  in  upholding  her  prestige 
of  the  past, —  if  possible,  to  make  it  stronger;  and  the  method 
to  pursue,  and  the  maxim  that  must  govern  it,  is  always  to  work 
to  keep  in  brightest  flame  the  Stanford  spirit. 

"  It  is  difficult  to  define  just  what  our  spirit  is.  We  all  feel  it 
within  us,  and,  as^has  been  said,  we  know  that  it  was  not  born  to 
die.  And  we  do  know  that  by  spirit  —  Stanford  spirit  —  we  mean 
the  direction  of  energy  in  all  manner  of  ways  that  are  legitimate 
and  right  to  aid^in  Stanford  success. 

"I  have  "two  jexamples  in  mind,  which  to  me  have  always 
demonstrated,  at  least  in  some  measure,  what  Stanford  spirit, 
in  both  its  individual  and  collective  sense,  consists  of 

"I  well  remember  one  autumn  afternoon,  when  the  football 
season  was'^at  its  height,  with  Walter  Camp,  whom  all  of  us  will 
always  revere, "as  coach.     I  had  blown  a  referee's  whistle  for  the 


32 

five-minute  rest  during  practice,  and  was  standing-  by  Mr.  Camp. 
Remarking  to  him  that  a  certain  player  had  '  ripped  things  up ' 
in  great  style  in  the  practice,  he  turned  and  said  to  me,  in  his 
quiet  but  forcible  manner,  '  Yes;  there  is  an  example  of  what 
spirit  will  do.  That  man  lacks  something  in  weight  for  his  posi- 
tion, one  would  think,  but  he  more  than  makes  up  for  it  in 
spirit.  After  all,'  he  continued,  'it's  spirit  that  counts  most; 
it's  spirit  alone  which  causes  a  man  to  display  a  degree  of 
superiority  over  his  fellows  and  become  a  star.'  And  to  me  his 
words  went  home  deeply;  and  as  for  the  player  we  spoke  of,  his 
name  has  come  down  to  us  in  our  football  annals  as  one  of  the 
best. 

"Collectively,  no  better  instance  of  what  Stanford  spirit  can 
accomplish  was  ever  displayed  than  in  the  early  spring  of  '96,  that 
memorable  spring  when  the  law  gave  to  Stanford  her  due.  The 
suit  had  been  decided  in  our  favor,  and  in  some  magic  manner 
there  gathered  on  the  campus,  the  very  evening  of  the  decision,  a 
great  number  of  the  representative  alumni.  In  an  instant  the 
university  emerged  from  its  gloom.  There  was  co-operation  of 
faculty  and  student  from  within,  with  the  alumni  from  without. 
It  was  in  the  air  that  things  would  change;  that  now  Berkeley 
would  fall  before  us;  and  that  the  hateful  tie  of  the  previous 
Thanksgiving  Day  would  bother  us  no  longer.  And  the 
prophecy  came  true;  for  the  impetus  given  by  the  engendered 
spirit  of  that  evening  carried  us  the  next  month  to  a  great  base- 
ball victory,  and  what  was  virtually  a  victory  on  the  track  and 
field.  To  uphold  that  spirit,  I  say  again,  is  our  duty.  Let  us 
systematize  our  plan  of  action  as  readily  as  is  possible.  Let  us  try 
to  have  it  so  that  every  branch  of  sport  each  year  may  have  two 
or  three,  or  perhaps  more,  of  the  Stanford  alumni  supervising 
its  development.  It  will  certainly  come  to  be,  and  that,  too,  in 
the  near  future,  that  our  men  will  be  as  competent  as  outsiders; 
and  when  they  have  gained  equal  competency,  they  will  be  far 
more  desirable  than  our  Eastern  brethren,  for  they  will  have 
added  to  their  ability  to  direct  the  Stanford  spirit.  Dr.  Angell 
has  long  cherished  this  idea,  and  is  gradually  observing  its  devel- 
opment and  enforcement.     To  him  we  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude 


for  his  active,  healthy,  broad-minded  policy  in  the  direction  of 
our  college  sports.  There  have  been  very  few,  if  any,  instances 
in  the  past  where  our  athletics  have  suffered  by  misdirection  on 
the  part  of  coaches;  and  Dr.  Angell's  sentiment  in  this  regard  of 
what  should  always  be  is  best  expressed  in  the  words  of  Walter 
Camp,  spoken  in  the  chapel  in  the  autumn  of  '92:  'Whatever 
be  your  game,  pray  God  be  a  gentleman.' 

"  And  so,  members  of  the  Alumni,  to  foster  this  spirit,  let  him 
who  can  come  back  to  the  campus  of  his  Alma  Mater  as  often  as 
he  can.  Let  every  one,  whatever  his  sphere  of  life  may  be, 
extend  his  hand  for  Stanford's  sake,  and  fan  the  flame  of  her 
undying  spirit.  In  most  instances  the  good  you  will  do  will  be 
general  in  its  nature;  the  details  we  must  leave  to  the  under- 
graduates. But  whether  it  come  from  near  or  far, —  perhaps  only 
a  word  spoken  here  or  a  word  spoken  there,  —  as  certain  as  the 
deed  is  done  will  its  effect,  early  or  late,  find  its  way  back  to  the 
halls  of  your  college  days.  And  though  it  is  difficult  to  realize, 
yet,  little  by  little,  as  the  years  slip  away,  so  must  one  active 
spirit  slip  away  to  give  place  to  the  newer,  fresher  life.  And 
when,  away  in  the  dim  and  uncertain  future,  we  have  passed  to 
the  stage  of —  let  us  hope  —  interested  but  necessarily  inactive 
regard  for  the  success  of  the  good  old  cardinal  upon  the  field  of 
athletics,  when  we  are  the  old  alumni,  all  revered  pioneers, 
when  Field  is  our  venerable  poet-laureate,  and  Crothers  a  chief 
justice  in  his  gown  and  wig,  and  Rice  the  head  of  some  mighty 
journal,  and  all  of  us,  pray  God,  have  at  least  climbed  to  that 
rung  of  the  ladder  of  life  which  is  designated  '  respectability,' 
let  us  hope,  I  say,  that,  leaning  back  in  our  easy-chairs,  in  what- 
ever cHme  of  this  broad,  old  world  fate  may  have  led  us,  there 
may  come  at  times  a  happy  reverie  of  days  gone  by,  and  stand- 
ing out  as  a  clear  mental  picture  of  our  college  days,  the 
athletic  conquests  of  dear  old  Stanford." 


34 

Prof.  W.  W.  Thoburn  delighted  the  company  with  a  response 
entitled  "Rhyming  Prose,"  which  he  has  named  more  speci- 
fically — 

THE    ALUMNUS. 
[To  the  Class  of  '98.] 

An  upper  room,  a  silent  hall, 

A  candle's  feeble  light; 
Black,  palsied  shadows  on  the  wall; 

Without,  a  half-spent  night. 

Thus  in  a  tilted  chair  he  sat, 

Commencement  Day  was  o'er, 
His  baccalaureate  robes  half-packed, 

Or  strewn  upon  the  floor. 

His  feet  his  table's  top  adorned, 

With  bills  and  billets-doux; 
He  tried  to  think  what  people  meant, 

Who  told  him  he  was  through. 

Through  with  the  men  he  knew  so  well. 

Through  with  the  girls  he  knew; 
Through  with  a  life  whose  paths  were  tried, 

Facing  a  life  so  new. 

It  hurts  to  be  made  alumnus. 

And  here  was  one  new-born; 
With  the  promised  life  before  him, 

He  seemed  of  all  life  shorn. 

In  class  array  he  had  that  day 

Upon  the  platform  stood, 
Where  fivescore  boys  with  threescore  girls 

Had  shared  their  bachelorhood. 


35 

He  smiled  at  congratulations, 
Thanked  all  who  wished  him  fame, 

Pretending  joy  he  did  not  feel, — 
His  class  had  done  the  same, — 


But  his  heart  was  cold  and  lonely; 

He  'd  trade  his  new  sheepskin 
For  any  envious  freshman's  shoes 

Who  wished  to  trade  with  him. 

That  night  he  stood  on  Roble  steps, 

The  lights  had  dipped  and  died; 
The  girl  who  helped  him  say  good-by 

Had  fled  upstairs  and  cried. 

And  now  with  crowding  memories 

He  lonely  vigil  kept; 
Because  he  'd  been  a  week  awake, 

Our  new  alumnus  slept. 

And  sleeping  dreamed,  and  dreaming  saw 

A  world  before  him  spread. 
Its  anxious  throngs  on  many  paths. 

By  many  wishes  led. 

Some  sought  for  ease,  and  some  sought  power; 

For  wisdom's  secrets  some; 
Some  aimless  strove,  or  sought  for  gifts 

That  ne'er  to  seekers  come. 


Here,  where  the  crowd  was  thick,   he  thought 

He  heard  the  college  yell; 
Here  anxious  brows  or  straining  eyes 

Unfinished  tasks  foretell. 


36 

Here  was  a  man  conditioned, 

And  here  an  incomplete; 
A  seedy,   flunked-out,   doubtful  case 

Sat  on  a  loafer's  seat. 

The  same  old  crowd  in  social  life, 
Or  work,  or  play,   were  powers. 

The  world,   it  seemed,   at  college  was, 
And  measured  time  by  hours. 

By  major  subjects  men  were  grouped, — 

Science,  and  art,   and  law; 
He  saw  how  civil  engineers 

Were  made  from  freshmen  raw. 

Circles,   and  frats,  and  rings,  and  barbs, 
And  sets,   and  clubs,  and  freaks, 

Divided  stupid  men  from  wise. 
Men  who  were  fair  from  sneaks. 

Sturdy,  broad-shouldered  rushers, 

Who  unearned  credits  beg. 
And  fellows  who  chose  snap-courses. 

And  pulled  the  doctor's  leg. 

The  good,  the  bad,  the  strong,  the  weak 

Of  other  days  were  there; 
But  set  in  larger  molds  were  these. 

By  transformation  rare. 

In  undergraduate  hours  he  dreamed 
Of  what  seemed  life's  ideal;  *■ 

By  curious  freak  of  somnolence. 
His  ideals  now  were  real. 

The  helping  hands  were  multiplied; 

To  more  abundant  life 
Men  led  their  fellows,  and  fewer  men 

Were  wasted  in  the  strife. 


n 


Beneath  the  superficial  froth 
Of  factious  waves,   there  ran 

The  quiet  strength  of  those  who  made 
Their  major  subject  man. 

Wide  as  the  fields  her  children  tread, 
The  Quad's  brown  walls  expand; 

A  mystic  influence  on  their  lives. 
Her  red-tiled  towers  stand. 

Mother  of  hopes,  parent  of  dreams. 

Thy  children  sing  to  thee ! 
They  ne'er  surpass  thy  rich  ideals, 

Nor  solve  thy  mystery. 


What  though  these  midnight  fancies  fade 

Before  the  light  of  day; 
One  cannot  dream  such  noble  dreams 

And  throw  his  life  away. 

The  beast  dreams  not  of  angels  fair; 

To  slaves,   the  freeman's  lot 
Is  slavish  ease,   with  chains  and  lash 

And  all  that  hurts  forgot. 

But  men  who  grow  where  free  winds  blow, 
Dream  as  they  've  lived  and  done, 

For  the  dreamer  and  his  dream-stuff 
Are  in  their  essence  one. 

Benj,  F.  Bledsoe,  '96,  spoke  of  "  Stanford  in  the  South  "  in 
a  very  entertaining  way,  dwelling  especially  on  the  energy  of 
Stanford  men  in  that  section,  and  their  habit  of  turning  up  in 
unexpected  places.  A  full  report  of  Mr.  Bledsoe's  remarks  was 
expected,  but  has  not  been  obtained. 


.'370(>2.'5 


38 

I.  E.  Outcalt,  '96,  one  of  the  best  known  writers  of  verse  among 
the  alumni,  was  called  on  and  responded  with  the  following 
poem  : 

ALUMNI     DAY,     1 898. 

To-day  the  underclassman's  words, 

His  modulations  cheerful, 
Make  known  his  blithe  assurances. 

Half-satisfied,  half-tearful, 
The  senior's  well-turned  rhetoric. 

From  hope's  bright  center  starting. 
Gains  deeper  tones  when  veiled  regret 

Points  to  the  final  parting. 
From  all  the  mingled  grave  and  gay, 
What  theme  is  ours  Alumni  Day? 

From  no  dim,  ivied  past  we  draw 

A  charm  to  grace  our  story. 
Nor  tell  how,  in  the  golden  days, 

Tradition,  wise  and  hoary. 
Filled  up  our  glasses  with  the  wine. 

Stored  in  his  vault  for  ages. 
And  sipped  by  endless  dynasties 

Of  sophomores  and  sages. 
On  themes  like  these  naught  can  we  say: 
They  are  not  ours  Alumni  Day. 

From  ninety-four  to  ninety-eight 

'T  is  nothing,  we  acknowledge  ; 
Scarce  time  to  smooth  the  wrinkles  out, — 

Those  learned  stamps  of  college  ! 
Not  through  long  vistas  do  we  catch 

The  arcade's  pristine  glimmer  ; 
And  in  our  lives  the  freshman  glow 

Is  but  a  shadow  dimmer. 
We  're  freshmen  j-et,  whate'er  we  say, 
Though  we  observe  Alumni  Day. 

What  then?     For  all  we  seem  to  yield 

Is  there  no  reservation  ? 
Can  honored  age  alone  provide 

The  theme  for  high  oration  ? 


39 

Do  time  and  great  achievement  give 

To  life  its  only  measure? 
And  must  the  tedious  years  amass 

The  only  worthy  treasure  ? 
Must  all  the  gloss  be  mixed  with  gray, 
Ere  it  beseem  Alumni  Day  ? 


Well,  grant  it  so !    We  are  not  poor, 

While  ever  through  and  o'er  us 
God's  treasured  benedictions  flow. 

The  ages  gone  before  us 
Have  robed  these  Palo  Alto  hills 

In  earth's  primeval  dower, — 
The  gold  of  sunlit  centuries, 

The  green  from  heaven's  first  shower. 
The  splendor  of  a  dateless  May 
Is  light  for  our  Alumni  Day. 

And  must  we  urge  a  higher  claim 

To  lofty  derivation  ? 
Trace  lineage  to  the  first  outleap 

Of  man's  bold  aspiration  ? 
Or  tell  how  heart  first  spake  to  heart. 

And  how  the  word  kept  going. 
Till  human  love  for  human  kind 

Set  all  the  dull  mass  glowing? 
And  how  such  love's  peculiar  ray    . 
Does  grace  to  our  Alumni  Day  ? 

Forego  the  tale  !     Life's  deeper  truths 

Are  ever  marred  when  spoken. 
We  scarce  can  breathe  the  mystic  air. 

And  leave  the  spell  unbroken. 
The  past  is  safe.     Our  doubts,  our  joys, 

Our  worship  consecrating. 
Look  outward  to  the  forms  that  stand 

About  our  portals,  waiting, 
Till  future  seems  to  crowd  away 
The  past,  e'en  on  Alumni  Day. 


40 

Along  th'  arcades,  with  measured  step, 

The  years  —  a  mute  procession  — 
Advance  and  fix  their  brazen  seals, 

In  undisturbed  progression. 
These  ranks  are  deep'ning;   and  as  hope 

Blends  into  high  achieving, 
Fond  memory  hangs  its  trophies  up. 

If,  then,  't  is  worth  believing 
That,  through  the  spirits'  power  we  hold 

E'en  now  in  half-possession, 
Each  gain  for  which  we  deeply  pray. 
How  rich  is  our  Alumni  Day  ! 

The  last  toast  w^as  responded  to  by  President  Jordan,  who  took 
for  his  theme  "  The  Past  Year."  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there 
is  no  complete  report  of  this  address.  Those  who  have  heard 
Dr.  Jordan  many  times  have  never  heard  him  speak  with  deeper 
feeling  or  finer  effect.  He  referred  especially  to  several  occasions 
in  the  past  year  when  circumstances  had  caused  him  to  feel  a 
special  pride  in  the  university,  and  closed  with  the  hope  that  the 
days  of  adversity  were  almost  at  an  end. 

Then  followed  the  singing  of  "  Hail,  Stanford,  Hail,"  and  the 
company  parted. 


41 


TREASURER'S  REPORT  FOR  1897-98. 


The  present  condition  of  the  Treasury  of  the  Association  is  shown 
by  the  following: — 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance  from  report  printed  in  Proceedings  of  last  year  .  |  81  59 

Fees  paid  for  the  year  1895-96 11  00 

Fees  paid  for  the  year  1896-97  39  00 

Fees  paid  for  the  year  1S97-98 158  00 

Fees  paid  for  the  year  1898-99 i  00 

Total ^290  59 

EXPENDITURES. 

Stationery,  stamps,  etc |  26  46 

Printing  due-bills,   register-blanks,  programmes,  etc.  .    .  16  00 

For  700  Manila  envelopes  for  the  Proceedings 3  85 

Printing  800  copies  of  the  Proceedings 70  00 

Postage  on  Proceedings 19  08 

Express  on  Proceedings  . 2  35 

For  clerical  labor 11  63 

Deficit  on  luncheon 15  70 


Total $165  oy 


Balance  in  treasury I125  59 

Charles  E.  Cox,    Treasurer. 

Stanford  University,  June  22,  189S. 


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